A Way to Get Kinder Eggs Unbanned in US

[StarSwirl05]

Seems silly just to ban it in the US when other countries haven't done so. I know it's a choking hazard but that hasn't been a problem outside the US that I'm aware of. Why not have the toy outside of the egg but sealed in a plastic bag that isn't see through? Then the child can eat the chocolate and not choke on the toy, not to mention you still maintain the surprise.

[mlp4me]

Ah, yes, chocolate with a surprise toy inside, what's not to love?
I thought we had them here for awhile but that must have been a loooooong time ago.
Sometimes things are kinda backwards in the US. lol

[LadyMoondancer]

IIRC, one of the roadblocks is the current US chocolate companies not wanting competition and going "lol NOPE."  And they use their lobbyists to make sure nothing gets done . . .

I'd love to see Kinder Eggs in the US.  Those things are so neat.  And really are they that different from Crackerjacks?

[Tulips]

I thought the ban had been lifted since they redesigned an internal capsule to have a rim visible on the outside of the chocolate so it wasn't a surprise choking hazard. Like the new Yowies chocolates, and on that note I'm surprised I never chocked on the Yowies back in the day. Their capsules were sometimes hard for my kid fingers to open, so I'd stick half in my mouth and bite to pop the other end off, not to mention the animal toys were all DIY so there were lots of small parts... Talk about chocking hazard!

It's weird that they're still banned. The 90s sure were lax, didn't treat kids like everything could kill them back then lol. 

[Bekuno]

I was just thinking about the Yowies when I saw this thread. I didn't even know what they were but I found some at the world market and I was really confused because I though all candies like this were illegal? Honestly if we can have these than I don't see any reason to not allow kinder eggs again. I don't know if it will happen though.

[banditpony]

there is another brand that make chocolate eggs in the usa now... http://www.chocotreasure.com


but honestly, I've seen kinder eggs and furuta chocolate eggs in some local stores. I could of swore I saw kinder eggs at the mall. :/ I recall doing a double take...

I personally liked wonderballs in the 90s... (Although I hate chocolate, I just wanted the toy). and I always assumed *that* is what drew attention to the hazardous chocolate surprise eggs. They had a license with Disney and Pokemon. o_o; It was pretty big, I thought..

[LadyMoondancer]

Yowies are allowed because the plastic "lip" of the toy container is visible between the two halves of chocolate.  The current law says that non-food items are not allowed in food if they are totally invisible from the outside.

I googled around and it was Mars Co. (maker of Mars Bars etc) who lobbied hard against Kinder Eggs every time someone suggests changing the law.

Edit:  Those Choco Treasure Balls look super fun.  According to their website they too have the plastic lip visible, which is why they're legal in the US.

[HelloGoodbye]

There is an imported candy store type thing in the mall where I work, and they were selling Kinder Eggs, but not the usual kind where it's a hollow chocolate egg with a toy inside.  These one's looked like the usual Kinder Eggs, but when you opened it, the toy was by itself in one half, and then the other half you'd peel away a tin foil bit and then there was a fudge type thing that you would eat with a little mini spoon it came with.  The regular Kinder Eggs are more fun, but this was a good alternative.  The toy in mine was kind of odd, though.  It was a key chain shaped like a shoe 

I really wish the US had Kinder Eggs after seeing that there will be MLP ones, though!  The toys look so cute!

[nhal039]

Just have to say i have posted kinder eggs to a friend lots in the us without problems, maybe thats the way to go

[PinkiePosh]

Include instructions on the box
Step one: break the egg with your hands, not your mouth!
EDIT: I assume this is how it works, I've never had one

[Lady.Arachnia]

Kinder Surprise Eggs!!! Man...I eat them soooo much! *And sometimes i buy one for good old times...the chocolate is sooo yummy!* And about the choking hazard....if a kid get the yellow container open on its own....then the kid is at an age he or she knows that the plastic things in the container are not food!

If someone want some eggs I will happily buy them for you and ship them!

[Buffy]

And now here in Germany you have 4 different ponies and 4 different EG in the girly kinder surprise eggs ;-)
http://xa060.xa0.serverdomain.org/ueei-mylittlepony-1.jpg

[Lore-Lei]

Wait, what? Kinder eggs are really banned in the US for choking hazards?

Why? And how? When I was little I always HULK SMASH!!'d them with my fists and even then, there was this gigantic capsule inside that was nearly impossible to open, and big enough so a child couldn't swallow it.

Murica, what u doin? Murica, STAHP!

[StarSwirl05]

Wait, what? Kinder eggs are really banned in the US for choking hazards?

Why? And how? When I was little I always HULK SMASH!!'d them with my fists and even then, there was this gigantic capsule inside that was nearly impossible to open, and big enough so a child couldn't swallow it.

Murica, what u doin? Murica, STAHP!

Kids appanretly choke by inadvertantly getting the toy into their mouth when they attempt to eat the egg. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinder_Surprise

[LadyMoondancer]

Wait, what? Kinder eggs are really banned in the US for choking hazards?

Why? And how? When I was little I always HULK SMASH!!'d them with my fists and even then, there was this gigantic capsule inside that was nearly impossible to open, and big enough so a child couldn't swallow it.

Murica, what u doin? Murica, STAHP!

Not quite.   They are banned because they're an inedible object inside something edible.

It makes more sense if you look at the history of the law.  Imagine an America where it was legal to mix straw or rocks or basically anything with food to 'bulk it up'.  Then imagine a guy adding raspberry flavoring to poison and marketing it as medicine in the 1930s.  Imagine over 100 people dying and the public saying "WHY IS THAT LEGAL?"

So Congress passed a law saying inedible substances could not be in food items.  It's not that Kinder Eggs are singled out by the US; they just happen to fit the description. They can't just tack on a line that says "But this doesn't apply to Kinder Eggs" because, first, it would be really WEIRD to single out one company and, second, what if Kinder Egg got a competitor?  It wouldn't be fair.

At the same time they don't want to loosen up the law too much because then what if you get a company that's like "KIDS!  We embedded lots of tiny toys right into this block of chocolate, eat up!"  Don't think that someone wouldn't do it.  Remember, this law was put in place to begin with because someone thought, "I'll bet poison makes a great curative."

I like Kinder Eggs, but I don't feel it's worth the time it would take to revamp the law when Americans can get around the restriction by ordering Kinder Eggs from people in other countries anyway.